This past weekend I put my boat in the water for the first time since the day I bought it. When I bought it, it did not have the ballast bags from the previous owner but did have all the factory installed ballast ports and set up. The bags are now hooked up and I took it out for the first time to test it. When I flip the center ballast to fill it won't make any noise and when I flip it to empty it doesn't make a noise. As for the rear ballast, when I flip to fill it makes a loud, fast click... click... click noise. When I flip to drain it released some water out of the drain hole still making the clicking noise.

I am new to this and I know I will have to get to the pump in the back behind the ski locker. I am certain this ballast system hasn't ran in a while as the previous owner told me he never ran it.

So what should I be looking for here and what parts am I looking at...

This is a 2003 ProStar 209

Thanks for any help!

djkslc

04-11-2011, 07:54 PM

Get to the pumps and pull off the 3 screws that hold the gold plate on. You will probably find old and broken black impellers. Pull those out and see if the pumps turn on then replace the impellers with the newer green ones.

Lakeside09

04-11-2011, 07:59 PM

I was hoping that would be the solution to my problem... ? Does that one pump run both the center and the rear ballast... ?

xbot50000

04-11-2011, 08:51 PM

There should be two pumps. One for the rear, and one for the locker going into a manifold. You got to take out the rear locker base and pull the carpet back to expose the pumps. Replace those impellers and you should be good.

bturner2

04-12-2011, 08:47 AM

Also be sure the valves are open so that water will flow to the pumps. It sounds stupid but on my first time out with my new boat I couldn't figure out why my ballast wasn't filling. A quick read from the owner's manual and I was filling ballast. There should be two through hull valves. The rear ballast are both fed off one the other is for the KGB.

Lakeside09

04-12-2011, 02:17 PM

So the green impellers from wakemakers will work?

xbot50000

04-12-2011, 02:30 PM

Yes, those will work fine.

Lakeside09

04-13-2011, 10:19 PM

I was looking for the pumps this evening and apparently I can't find them (Where are they?)... I did find a handle under my set that was turned to closed and I turned it to open... Also my pump to my slick boot will run but there is no liquid in the hose? Any ideas... Starting to get irritated with the little things... :rolleyes:

http://i53.tinypic.com/33k41ds.jpg

smoketu

04-13-2011, 11:49 PM

I was looking for the pumps this evening and apparently I can't find them (Where are they?)... I did find a handle under my set that was turned to closed and I turned it to open... Also my pump to my slick boot will run but there is no liquid in the hose? Any ideas... Starting to get irritated with the little things... :rolleyes:

http://i53.tinypic.com/33k41ds.jpg

The ballast pumps are mounted to the back wall behind the fuel tank. Not sure on the slick boot.

bturner2

04-14-2011, 07:39 AM

"Also be sure the valves are open so that water will flow to the pumps. It sounds stupid but on my first time out with my new boat I couldn't figure out why my ballast wasn't filling. A quick read from the owner's manual and I was filling ballast. There should be two through hull valves. The rear ballast are both fed off one the other is for the KGB."

As posted I had the same experience. I'd expect that if the front one was closed the one feeding the rear pumps will be also. A lot of this stuff is in the owner's manual along with the procedures on how to winterize the ballast system. If you don't have the owner's manual you should be able to down load it from this site. I found having one to be very helpful.

Lakeside09

04-14-2011, 10:50 PM

Ok got my slick boot working... just clogged up from no use in a while...

Taking a look at the pumps and they look pretty new to me... I turned the handle to open, the one in the back middle of the floor (this helped my rear ballast)... but where is the other one... ?

Another thing... when I turn the rear ballast to fill or empty it makes a loud humming noise on the right ride of the rear seat (if your sitting in it) Doesn't seem like it should be doing that.

Again thanks for all the help!

Lakeside09

04-15-2011, 04:16 PM

Nothing in the owners manual online is helping... :confused:

xbot50000

04-15-2011, 08:26 PM

Since your boat is a 209 and not and X9, the ballast is probably not stock. Are you still trying to find the ski locker pump? Turn it on, and follow the sound. If it won't turn on, switch from fill to empty, or try pushing the reset behind the fill/empty switch. The pumps are pretty loud when they are on.

Lakeside09

04-16-2011, 12:24 AM

The loud noise is coming from the right side of the rear seat. I have found the two pumps that are located in the rear locker. My center locker bag for the middle of the boat seems to not be running as it makes no sound when I flip it on... the rear ballast seems to be working but makes an extremely loud noise at the right side of the rear seat just before it comes out of the fill port.

xbot50000

04-16-2011, 11:17 AM

Ok, I get it now. Put a meter on the center pump to see if it's getting power. If it is, remove the impeller and turn it on. If it doesn't come on, it needs to be replaced. If it does come on, replace the impeller. In my x9, one pump was installed impeller up - allowing water to leak into the pump motor and ruin it. The old black impellers in my pumps also occasionally stopped them from turning on. I have no idea what the loud noise is, unless something is clogged, or it's sucking in air.

Lakeside09

04-19-2011, 09:21 PM

Ok... took it off seems the impeller was just stuck as it was goo'd up a bit... cleaned it off and put some petro jelly on there... easy fix. Thanks for all the help! :D

mcgraw25

04-20-2011, 12:28 PM

btruner2. Iam curious to know what owner's manual you are talking about. The manual that has all the pictures of each boat and some spec information is useless. This is the only manual that I can find for download. The one with all of the important maintenance information which is called the Operations and Maintenance Manual is impossible to find. Any ideas where to find one? I left mine at Costco when searching for batteries.

bturner2

04-20-2011, 08:43 PM

I got the 2007 Owner's Manual off the MC website and it's really pretty good. It has a whole section on winterization and all the engine specs. I'm not saying it's a shop manual but it really isn't bad.